California’s water wars rage onCalifornia lawmakers have approved several bills that could significantly change the state’s troubled water system, fueling hopes that a generation of feuds over the state’s most vital and overexploited natural resource might soon be over.
Agriculture
GM corn still approved here despite Europe, Kiwi concerns
A genetically modified variety of corn remains approved for use in Australia, despite the withdrawal of applications for approval in Europe and serious concerns about its assessment raised by a New Zealand university research team.
The CPRS: what the Liberals want
So Malcolm Turnbull has convinced the Coalition to push amendments on the Government’s CPRS. But what is it that the Liberals want?
Magic mushrooms: the secret hunt of food junkies
Take a journey into the secret world of the mushroom lovers sub-culture, where they’re not gatherers, but hunters, and get a whole new appreciation for the humble funghi.
Queensland farmers rise up to take on the miners
Queensland’s Surat Basin has the third largest energy resource in the world but farm groups are warning that mining areas risk catastrophic environmental damage to food-producing areas, reports Amanda Gearing.
Dead cattle put Kenya at the brink of national disaster
Years of drought sweeping across Kenya’s plains have placed the country at a critical stage. Four million Kenyans are on food aid, yet a blotched government plan has resulted in hundreds of dead cattle.
Richer than the richest gold, if a farm’s got soul
Insipid food lines and factory farms full of antibiotics have replaced the traditional family farm, leaving modern day farming with no soul, writes Nicholas D. Kristof.
Farmer wants an heir
Wannabe farmers with being matched with farming old timers in a new US government program, aimed at staving off the rural exodus and transferring skills to young farmers.
Solutions for a starving planet
By 2050, the world will have nine billion people to feed, and increasingly less land to do it with. Popular Science looks at eight potential farming innovations — from genetically engineered rice to robot farmers — to help stop world hunger and feed a growing world’s appetite.
Wealthy Arab nations sew foreign soil to secure food supply
Oil-rich but agriculture-poor Middle Eastern countries are leasing land in developing nations like Cambodia, Vietnam and Sudan to shore up their food supply, but critics claim the deals are just a form of neo-colonialism.
Film review: Food Inc.
Food Inc. carves its way into the cinematic cavities of the 100% Prime Beef guilt trip genre, offering a shocking exposé about the stuff we put in our mouths. An engaging, important and entertaining documentary, says Luke Buckmaster.
PHOTO ESSAY: Farming the future
High rise buildings that grow, beach pods and pyramids — what bringing farms to the city could look like.
Nats don’t mind a rural rort, as long as it goes to their constituents
The collapse of Timbercorp and Great Southern is at least partly the consequence of the Howard Government’s attempts to regain control of agricultural managed investment schemes.
Adding anti-biotics to our animals
Humans limit their intake of anti-biotics because we know overuse creates resistant superbugs. So why do we let Big Agribusiness pump livestock full of them? asks Nicholas Kristof.
Calculating the cost of water: catchments, fires and global warming
What is catchment management, asks Lionel Elmore.
Rust disease threatens to infect world’s wheat supply
Scientists from 40 countries on six continents are fighting a virulent form of an old wheat disease that some fear could threaten 90 percent of the world’s wheat crop.
ETS sleeper: the government’s deforestation scam
The Rudd Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) is riddled with rorts, writes Andrew Macintosh.
The destruction of Australia’s most productive food bowl
Australia’s most productive agricultural region, the Liverpool Plains in North-West NSW, is under siege from BHP Billiton and coal and gas companies, writes Rosemary Nankivell.
Surging rice prices add to food inflation pain
Food inflation shows no sign of easing with rice, the world’s most important staple, becoming swept up in the maelstrom of falling stocks, rising demand and soaring prices, reports Glenn Dyer.
Richard Farmer’s political bite-sized meaty chunks
Canberra’s new man of influence … Cash for trash at Family First … Getting good at this … First hand experience … The Daily Reality Check … The Pick of this Morning’s Political Coverage …
MacCormack: Nats stick to the script, shameless pork handouts ensue
Unlike the Liberals, the Nationals are honest about their shameless rorting of public policy in favour of a minority interest, writes David MacCormack.
Making hay in the dry: farmers turn water into profit
The big dry is increasing the value of water and there are some big, big winners, writes Lionel Elmore.
Why are farmers more important than any other business?
The government can’t make it rain, but the cashed-up Commonwealth can make it rain money. What we really need is more efficient agriculture.
